The Ice Never Felt So Comforting
by Erina-san
Summary: After graduating from Yuei, Shouto and S decide to team up for their great entrance in the world of pros. Everyone had better watch out, for this rising duo intends to leave their mark on the world. (Todoroki Shouto/OC)


Saori got in the convenience store with her usual cat shaped backpack that she took everywhere. Her partner always told her it made her look like a schoolgirl, to which she would reply she didn't care, because cats were the cutest things and it didn't hurt to add some cuteness in this rowdy world, especially in her job.

She didn't have to go to the agency that morning, as they were just done with a particularly tricky case the day before. Her partner and her decided they deserved a good day of rest.

Lazily, Saori sauntered through the alleys of the stores, wondering what she would buy. She had to go grocery shopping because the only thing edible left in her appartment were unhealthy snacks and her cat's biscuits. It could probably last her three more days but she didn't think it was a good idea to live on chocolate bars until the end of the week. She sighed when she reminded herself she also had some food to buy for her father. Tonight she would go to his place and cook something for dinner. The man's lifestyle was even worse than hers. How he managed to survive all those years eating instant noodles and taking twenty minute naps, she didn't know. She would probably find him wrapped in his sleeping bag tonight. And then after dinner he would be off to his night patrol. He had been a pro hero for more than fifteen years, and he was still the one she admired the most. It was his sense of justice and his humility that made her want to become a hero herself.

She remembered when she used to live with him from the middle of her first high school year to her graduation. It was a tough decision to leave her mother and her half-siblings at the other end of the country, but coming to UA quickly became the step that changed her life and carved her path. She was glad she had been brave enough to chase after her dream.

Saori picked some vegetables, apple juice and she headed towards the checkout. Just before paying, she eyed the lollipops on the counter with hesitation. It wasn't even eleven o'clock and eating so much sugar this early wasn't very smart. Saori stared at the lollipops some more and she swore she could have seen them stare back. With a shrug she finally yielded to the temptation and grabbed one before handing the money to the cashier.

She got out of the store with a plastic bag in one hand, her cat bag on her back and the candy in her mouth.

She was ready to come back to her appartment and spend the whole day watching tv on her couch. It wouldn't hurt to be lazy for once in the year.

Who was she kidding, there was no time for heroes to watch series.

She heard some commotion to her left, and quickly she ran to the large street it came from.

The police was already there, framing the area to prevent any civilians from getting in.

Saori sidled through the crowd towards a policeman in the front.

"What's going on?" She asked him.

He had a kind but tired face and she understood very well the dark bags under his eyes.

"A villain robbed a bank and when a hero went after him, he hid in this building," the policeman pointed at the skyscraper. "He has a dangerous quirk and the hero was heavily injured."

Saori only needed a second to get a grasp on the situation.

"He's holding the workers inside as hostages then."

He nodded.

"What's his quirk? And who was the hero?"

"I don't know much, but he has something related to detonations. Grey Blocker has lost conciousness, he's already in an ambulance. Now please step back, it might be dangerous. You can stay here but I think you should go to school before you're late," the policeman said nicely.

Saori gasped but he was already talking to someone else. Shaking her head she sneaked out of the crowd.

He probably didn't recongnize her without her costume, and she guessed she really did look like a high schooler with her bag and the lollipop peaking out of her mouth.

She closed her eyes and let her quirk work.

Images of the whole area flowed in her mind, like a large panorama that she could zoom in wherever she wanted. She focused on the building the villain was in, quickly analyzing each floor. She found him on the seventeenth, in a room with the hostages. Thankfully there were all alive. At least for now. A hero had to step in, and it seemed like it had to be her.

Her quirk wasn't offensive, it didn't make her body stronger nor able to produce flashy things.

It just allowed her to see everything around her. Everything that actuallly happened and everything that was going to happen. Her psychic powers were useless for a hero. That's what she thought in the beginning. So she worked hard, she mastered close ranged combat and now she didn't know a lot of people who could beat her in those kind of fights. It was a serious advantage to see your opponent's every moves when they didn't even think of it yet.

And in a world where every little buzzing could be lethal, the one with the view of the bigger picture was king.

Saori darted towards an empty alley, and without wasting a second she hopped to a rooftop.

She put down her groceries in a corner and immediately opened her backpack. Her hero outfit popped out, the S gleaming on her black bulletproof top.

The villain didn't have a weapon. He was threatening the hostages with his quirk alone. If he could blow things up it was enough to frightened anyone. Saori put her foot on the step that separated the rooftop and the empty space. The distance between the building and where she was currently standing was over sixty feet. That was nothing more than an easy jump for her.

She raised her arm and the black metal on her wrist slid open. The hook flew out and lodged perfectly in the wall. Saori tug on the sturdy chain and satisfied, she let herself swing towards the building.

She crashed in a window of the eighteenth floor, feet first and rolled on her back before she got up with grace.

On the floor underneath, she saw the villain was still trying to buy time. Good, she had been discreet enough, he didn't know she was there.

There were several doors in the room the villain was in. Saori ran to the seventeenth floor and she made sure to get in the room by the door opposite to the staircase, that way the hostages could get themselves to the exit. With a strong kick, she opened the door and it flew directly towards the robber.

He had good enough reflexes to block it with his arms, but Saori was already on him. She punched his solar plexus and pinned him down.

"Get out of here!" She shouted to the hostages.

They swarmed to the exit.

"Seems like there's only the two of us now," she said mockingly. The man growled and twisted his hand enough for his palm to face her.

Saori saw herself get busted by the powerful blast of wind.

She got up and jumped back. The blow pushed out of the villain's palm but unlike in her vision, she wasn't smashed, because she dodged in time.

"That's a strong quirk you have here," she began. "Could have made a good hero."

"I know who you are," the man said as he got up. "You call yourself the Ace uh? Quite a big head for a hero who just started this year."

Saori clicked her tongue.

"My name wasn't supposed to be Ace, it was S in the beginning! The journalists were just too stupid to spell it right!"

He seemed a bit taken back.

"… why didn't you just fix it?"

"My partner said he liked it," she replied like it was obvious.

She wondered what he was doing right now. Probably training in his dojo since he was as much as a workaholic as herself.

"Oh, right. Are you alone today? Won't you need him to save your ass?"

"This conversation is ridiculous," Saori cut him. "I will be more than enough for this, let's finish it."

As fast as the wind, the young hero appeared next to him. She swung her leg to his neck but he blocked it and again, he used his quirk. The ground Saori had been standing on just a second ago broke under the blow and there was only a huge hole left. She laid her hands on the ground, and went on with the move she practiced hundreds of times. She swayed her body and legs in the air, then landed a powerful kick right to the villain's temples. It knocked him out, but at the same time, he had let his blast of wind out at full power.

While the man fell unconscious, the ground cracked beneath them. With the strength of the detonation Saori flew out the window.

She winced when she fell the glass shatter on her back. Quickly, she tried to shoot her hook on a wall, but there was no wall left. The building was collapsing.

She saw debris falling with her, she saw the horror in the crowd's eyes as she fell down of the seventeenth floor. She didn't need her quirk right now to know that she'll end up like a pancake on the asphalt. She spotted the villain falling, still unconscious. She wrapped her chains around him and yanked him towards her to prevent him from being smashed by a rock fragment.

Not that it mattered anyway, because even if they somehow survived the fall, they would get crushed by the rubbles.

Oddly enough, Saori thought about the groceries she left on that rooftop. It'll probably attract disgusting birds like crows and pigeons. She hated them. And it'll be even more disgusting for the poor janitor who'll have to clean it.

She was going to mentally apologize for that as her last thought, but twenty feet above the ground, she fell her back slip on something cold and smooth.

The ice never felt so comforting.

She skidded down the gigantic ice slide like a child in a park. Like she just wasn't about to die seconds ago.

The villain was caught in the ice as well and trapped in for good.

Saori landed gracefully on the ground and spread her arms before she bowed to the crowd. What had been screams of horror just before became joyful cries and hand claps. Her partner shook his head with a tiny smile at her. She always liked to be seen as a cheeky arriviste in the heroes' world.

"Took you long enough," she smiled.

"Sorry. I thought we were supposed to take a day off?"

"I know, I just happened to pass by, so I thought I might as well step in."

She walked to him, still flustered by the fall and he held out his arm to let her lean on.

"You should have called me," he noted.

"I was in a hurry, sorry. But you still came anyway, right? That means we're a perfect team! Communication's so good between us we don't have to talk."

"Still," he sighed, "you're as quick to react as always. And by that, I mean reckless."

After all these years, since high school actually, they knew each other enough to know that some things would never change.

They stopped just before the policemen. Saori let go of his arm, ready to give her report.

"Thanks for covering my back, partner," she grinned at him.

"You're welcome, S."

She was about to leave but finally she turned back.

"Shouto."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Do you want to come for dinner with my dad and me tonight? To celebrate."

"To celebrate what?"

"Life. And because I'm cooking and I'm sure he'll make me wash the dishes. You'll help me!"

"You're insufferable," he muttered. "But yeah, I'll come."

He turned back and raised his hand as he drew away.

"See you tonight then!" Saori called out.

She went to the policemen and gave a quick report of the situation. She was about to go see a group of girls that looked at her with admiration but then she remembered and slapped her hand on her forehead.

"My groceries!"

The Ace hopped on a rooftop and disappeared as quickly as she came.


End file.
